News Digest
By the
Associated Press
Edited by Brandon Loomis
Lithuania promises to consider Soviet interests
Kremlin warns against power transfer
MOSCOW - The Kremlin on
Monday sternly warned the breaka
way republic of Lithuania not to put
up its own customs posts, introduce
its own currency or take over Moscow
run factories without permission.
The nationally televised announce
ment was Mikhail Gorbachev’s first
concrete step to counter Lithuania’s
March 13 declaration of independ
ence. The announcement did not say
what would happen if Lithuania ig
nored the orders.
Earlier Monday, a Lithuanian dele
gation delivered a letter to the Krem
lin that promised Soviet interests in
the republic would be given “careful
consideration.”
The television statement accused
the Lithuanian leadership of planning
to turn over national factories to pri
vate owners, bring in a separate cur
rency and put up customs posts on the
borders of the republic.
It said the government was con
cerned especially about nuclear en
ergy plants in Lithuania and had or
dered increased security around them.
It accused the Baltic republic of
trying to “undermine its links” with
the rest of the Soviet Union, which it
said could have “pernicious conse
quences” for the national economy.
The government said police, the
KGB and customs agents would have
authority in maintaining the existing
customs situation.
A directive was issued to the
management of all Soviet enterprises
and agencies in Lithuania, saying that
under no circumstances should they
begin negotiations on handing over
their authority to local officials. Such
talks can be run only by Moscow
ministries, it said.
Many Lithuanians say they expect
Moscow to impose an economic block
ade, depriving the republic of the fuel
and raw materials that it receives only
from the Soviet Union.
The government statement con
tained no such threats.
Gorbachev and the Congress of
People’s Deputies -- the national
parliament - declared the declara
tion of independence invalid last week,
but Kremlin leaders have ruled out
the use of troops in Lithuania.
Lithuanian activist and television
editor Eduardas Potash inskas said he
thought most Lithuanians would take
the government warning calmly.
‘‘Wc say the Soviet empire is
showing its teeth,” he said by tele
phone from the Lithuanian capital,
Vilnius. ‘‘But wc think they can’t
threaten Lithuania. We’ll be calm.
We’ll fall and get up, but we’ll go
on.”
The Bush administration said
Monday it would keep an eye on
Soviet military activities in the Baltic
region. The White House and State
Department spokesmen urged a peace
ful approach to secession and reminded
Gorbachev he had said force would
not be used.
The TV statement said the govern
ment sympathized with Lithuania’s
desire for greater sovereignty, but it
said this should be pursued with “strict
observance of Soviet laws and taking
into consideration the mutual inter
ests of the peoples of Lithuania and
other republics.”
Soviet TV has broadcast several
I _ b
segments in the last two days focus
ing on discontent among non-Lithu
anians, who comprise about 20 per
cent of the republic’s 3.7 million
people.
On Monday evening, the nightly
news program “Vremya” showed a
mass meeting against Lithuanian
independence in the city of Klaipeda.
One speaker complained, “We don’t
want to live in bourgeois Lithuania.
A “Vremya” anchorman also read
an appeal from a demonstration held
Sunday in Vilnius that drew tens of
thousands of Lithuania’s Russians,
Poles and other ethnic minorities.
“Hypocritically and arrogantly, the
interests of many thousands of people
who arc categorically against being
tom from the peoples of the U.S.S.R.
arc being ignored,” it said. It was
addressed to Gorbachev.
The appeal expressed the hope that
Gorbachev would “be able to defend
your fellow citizens from the encroach
ments of political adventurists.”
Gorbachev has said he is willing to
carry ona “respectful dialogue” with
Lithuanian representatives, and he
reportedly met personally with a Lithu
anian delegation that arrived in
Moscow.
The six-member delegation was
headed by Egidius Bickauskas, a
lawyer who recently resigned from
the Lithuanian Communist Parly.
It was empowered by Lithuania’s
parliament to meet with Gorbachev
and propose a start of negotiations on
independence, said a spokesman for
the Lithuanian nationalist movement,
Sajudis.
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East German winners
fail to shape coalition
EAST BERLIN - The victori
ous Alliance for Germany said
Monday the German states must
move more quickly to reunify, but
its leader was rebuffed as he began
trying to form a coalition govern
ment to move the process along.
A more left-leaning party, the
Social Democrats, turned down an
invitation to join the coalition, thus
blocking the Alliance from having
a two-thirds majority in Parliment.
Such a majority would allow East
Germany to simply declare a merger
with the West.
The three-party Alliance swept
to victory Sunday in East Germany’s
first free elections but did not win
a majority in the 400-scat Parlia
ment.
The Alliance got a boost Mon
day from perhaps its biggest sup
porter, West German Chancellor
Helmut Kohl, who promised fi
nancial aid for East Germany.
The chancellor had refused such
aid to the Communists, who have
governed since hard-liner Erich
Honccker was overthrown in the
fall.
Lothar dc Maiziere, likely to be
the next East German premier,
invited the Social Democrats and
the Union of Free Democrats to
discuss forming a “grand coali
tion” to guide the nation toward
unification with the broadest pos
sible consensus.
The Social Democrats said
moving quickly to reunify could
result m a loss of East Germany’s
cradle-to-grave social services and
allow the country to be swallowed
up by its wealthy neighbor.
De Maiziere held a round of
meetings Monday with the goals of
forming a government and uniting
with the West,
“Here, we will carry forward
and step up the pace of the already
started negotiations,” he said.
He urged “rapid introduction
of a monetary, economic and so
cial union” with West Germany.
In a largely symbolic move, he
said the Berlin Wall should be tom
down “as soon as possible, as a
clear sign of the merging of the two
German states.”
White House spokesman Mar
lin Fitzwater said the vote was “a
victory not only for the people” of
East Germany, “but for all Ger
mans and all who support demo
cratic values.”
Kohl’s government is scheduled
to decide today on ways to halt the
immigration of East Germans to
his country. The exodus sparked
the fall revolution and has come to
strain WestGermany’s social serv
ices while crippling the East’s
economy.
NelSfaskan
Editor Amy Edwards Photo Chief Dave Hansen
472- 1766 Night News Editors Jana Pedersen
Professional Adviser Don Walton Diane Brayton
473- 7301
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